The present invention is directed to walking crutches and in particular to improvements in crutches that increase the comfort and security of crutches used by individuals needing assistance in walking.
Traditional walking crutches, used by those suffering injury or other debilitation that limits the use of an individual's legs, often causes the user to get sore ribs and wrists resulting from the transition of body weight from the legs of the user to his or her hands, wrists, arms, and underarm areas. This pain and discomfort is caused for a number of reasons arising from using a device that is ill-designed to support the body weight of a user while walking.
To begin with, the bond created by the rubber pads of traditional crutches with the user's clothing causes the cloth material to abrade the skin underneath the user's arms as the underarm support moves, both back and forth as well as up and down, under the force of the user's bodyweight. This is exacerbated by the fact that the underarm support of typical walking crutches is straight and narrow where it contacts the rib cage and causes a feeling of insecurity as the crutch moves, thereby forcing the user to clamp his or her arms tightly against the crutches in an uncomfortable manner just to keep crutches secure. This makes things worse. Aside from reducing the mobility of the user's arms when gripping them tightly against one's body, this gripping of the straight and narrow crutches with the underside of the user's arm presses the abrading cloth harder against the body and intensifies the abrasive effect. Further, rigid portions of conventional crutch underarm supports create pressure points on the user's body causing pain to the rib cage and sides of the user's body.
The hand grips of traditional crutches are intended to be the primary point of support for a user, but are likewise deficient for this purpose in actual use. Traditional crutch hand grips are located in the plane of the crutch supports, resulting in interfering contact between the user's wrists and the vertical supports on the crutches. Located directly between front and rear crutch supports, the hand grip requires the user to rotate the rear portion of his or her wrist inwards in order to grasp the hand grip. This rotation forces the inner portion of the user's forearm to be pressed up against the rear vertical support of the crutch, creating a pressure point and abrasive area as the user walks. The orientation of the hand grip also results in the user's arm being aligned in a non-optimal configuration to support the user's body weight during walking. The result is pain to the forearms and wrists from use.
The detrimental physical effects of using prior art crutches cannot be underestimated. Pressure caused from the use of crutches can result in brachial paralysis from radial nerve or ulnar nerve dysfunction or injury. This extreme discomfort caused by traditional crutch underarm supports and hand grips pressing against the user's body often forces users to modify the crutch with additional padding in an attempt to reduce the pain caused by the crutches. These homemade modifications often take the form of towels, cloths, foam scraps or other readily available materials that may be haphazardly tied, taped, or otherwise wrapped around the crutch supports in an attempt to relieve the pain and discomfort from pressure created by the support. Other crutches which are currently available attempt to use padded underarm supports or sling type supports to relieve the pain, but none of these successfully eliminate pain or make them stable.
Traditional walking crutches also fail to account for realities arising from everyday use of crutches. Individuals using crutches generally have reduced mobility arising from their condition. As a result, users have limited options for resting their crutches when not in use. Oftentimes, the only place a user can place traditional crutches when not in use is resting at an angle against a nearby wall. The result is that the crutches often slide to the ground, causing embarrassment and damage to property. This may be followed by an inability of the user to now reach the crutches to pick them up due to the user's medical condition.